Complaint filed with UN over woman batterer

October 21, 2015 1:26 pm

Gakii has accused the man of having repeatedly assaulted her “even when I was pregnant; complicating it and forcing me to undergo a caesarean section.”

By OLIVE BURROWS, NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 21 – A woman who claims to have been repeatedly assaulted by a foreign national working for the United Nations has written to the world body demanding justice.

Speaking from a hospital bed at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital in Hurlingham, 26-year-old Ruth Gakii called for the world body to “come out and condemn” the violence she alleges was meted out by her Papua New Guinea partner and father of her three-year-old son.

A man she claims works as a legal officer for the United Nations. “That’s why you can’t sit down and reason with him. He just likes to sue everybody.”

Okoa Dada Kenya Founder Diane Okello, having taken up her cause, says it’s critical that the UN come out “strongly” against the actions of their alleged employee given the principles they stand for. “How can UN Women for example have any moral standing when it has animals such as these in its employ?” she posed.

Gakii has accused the man of having repeatedly assaulted her “even when I was pregnant; complicating it and forcing me to undergo a caesarean section.”

She claims that the man, with whom she’s embroiled is a custody battle, kicked and punched her, “without provocation” when he dropped her son off at her Jacaranda Gardens residence on Sunday.

“He accused me of being disrespectful when I moved to change my son out of his wet clothes.”

The self-professed “hustler,” who deals in beauty products says it was not only not the first time he’d struck her but also not the first time she’d reported for no action to be taken.

“I reported the incident to the Kiambiu Police the same day but as far as I know he remains a free man with my son in his custody.”

In response, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho told Capital FM News that diplomatic immunity did not shield foreign nationals from criminal prosecution as it was a courtesy Kenya extended and could withdraw under compelling circumstances.

Gakii was however not so easily convinced: “He once slapped me in front of my mother because he didn’t find the meat the house help had cooked tender enough.”

“When the neighbours came to my aid on Sunday, he said he paid the rent and so could do as he pleased in his house. That’s not a man who’s afraid of the law.”

Regardless, Gakii maintained, she would not give up custody of her son. “I gave birth to him. Alphonse once even offered me Sh2 million for him and I refused,” she said of the man she says she met at a friend’s party in Westlands at 22 years of age.

But they didn’t remain ‘in-house’ lovers for long according to Gakii. “He wanted to maintain his bachelor’s lifestyle.”

The decision to finally go public, Gakii said, was taken to force the hand of the law. “Now there are two police officers waiting to speak to me.

OLIVE BURROWS With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.